Headbands are worn by people for both utilitarian and non-utilitarian (e.g., fashion) purposes. For purposes of this discussion, the utilitarian purposes of headbands will be discussed.
Headbands are often worn by a person engaging in athletics (e.g., while playing tennis) for the purpose of absorbing perspiration from the person's forehead (in this case, a headband is also referred to as a sweatband), for keeping hair from impairing the person's vision, etc.. Generally, a headband is a flat strip of material worn around a person's head, encircling the person's head at a position (e.g., approximately midway) between the eyes and the hairline. This can present a bit of a problem for a person having a ponytail, as to whether to position the headband above the ponytail, or below the ponytail.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,998,544 (Obergfell, 1991) discloses a combination headband and ponytail holder. The ponytail holder is generally an elongated cylinder attached to the headband, and its aperture (opening) is aligned with an aperture of the headband. FIGS. 5 and 6 of the patent would seem to provide the best views of the apparatus, and there is discussion in the text of the ends of the headband forming the aperture which is aligned with the aperture of the ponytail holder. The ends of the headband are disposed within the "cylinder" of the ponytail holder, and are stitched to the inside of the ponytail holder.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,723,325 (Perry; 1988) discloses a continuous loop, twisted into two loops, one larger than the other.
Generally, such headbands of the prior art suffer from the limitation that they must be made from an inherently elastic material in order to be fittable about a range of head sizes, and to resiliently maintain themselves in position on a person's head, among other limitations that can be found in their construction.
Another problem confronting people engaging in sports, notably out-of-doors sports (such as tennis), is shielding their eyes from the sun.
In order to cope with the sun problem, many athletes will wear caps having a bill visor, such as a typical baseball cap. However, such caps are not capable of holding a substantial amount of perspiration, are not capable of being wrung out (in contrast to a typical headband), tend to deteriorate rapidly from use, and are not amenable to machine washing (in contrast to a typical headband). Plastic sun visors that partially encircle a person's head are also known, but being totally non-absorbent of perspiration, are typically only worn for non-athletic purposes (such as for taking a stroll on a sunny day).
What is needed is an apparatus that addresses each of the above-mentioned concerns in an improved manner, and that is capable of addressing various combinations of these concerns.